RED RIVER GORGE, Ky. (LEX 18) — A late-night fire Wednesday destroyed a popular spot for hikers and climbers in the Red River Gorge.
For climbers who’ve been coming to the Red River Gorge for a long time, there are a few places that are must-stops. Dario Ventura's family runs the iconic Miguel's Pizza. Now he operates Redpoint Barbecue. The business community around here is pretty tight.
"Everyone just kind of brings their own brand to the area. It's nice. Everyone's unique. Plenty of room for everyone," Ventura said.
One of those institutions was the C&S Carry Out.
"There's a lot of memories that were made there for a lot of people from all over the world, not just the people here," Ventura said.
For years, because of county alcohol laws, it was the closest place for a lot of climbers to buy beer. These days, tradition kept them coming back.
"Every time we come up, we make a point of stopping in," said Rick Bost, a climber from Knoxville, Tennessee.
"It worked for them. They sold a ton of beer because they were the only place around for so many years," Ventura said.
The fire started around 11 p.m. Wednesday.
"The news spread really fast and everybody was obviously bummed about it," said Billy Simek, the executive director of the Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition.
A passerby spotted the place in flames. When the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department showed up 10 minutes later, the roof had already fallen in. The business, lovingly referred to as the "Beer Trailer," was destroyed.
"As soon as I saw it on Facebook, I'm getting texts, everybody's talking about it. The first thing everybody asks is, is everybody ok? Are the cats ok?" Bost said.
The place was also known for the cats who lived around the building. Simek said climbers had adopted several of them. Thankfully, no cats or people were hurt in the fire, but a piece of local history is gone.
"They're just a part of the history of what built this place. There's not many of them left, you know? You want to keep the old, you know? When people come here in the '90s and then they come back 10 years later, things are still there that remind them of their past, when they were younger," Ventura said.
It's not yet clear what caused the fire and it's too early to say whether the place will be back. If there's any chance of that happening, people want to give back to the place that's given them so many memories.
"The climbing community always seems to rally around those mainstay businesses. I know I can speak for the climbing community that everybody would love to see them get back on their feet and they'd like to help as much as they can," Simek said.
